


can i also fall off the face of the earth?

by thosedamnkids



Series: pegoryu week 2020 [3]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: M/M, Pegoryu Week 2020, day 3: lazy sunday, i'm slow burning pegoryu week, mentions of shihoann, ryuji focused
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:22:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25891261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thosedamnkids/pseuds/thosedamnkids
Summary: a simple day leads to a confession of sorts.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Sakamoto Ryuji, Kurusu Akira/Sakamoto Ryuji, Persona 5 Protagonist/Sakamoto Ryuji
Series: pegoryu week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1873993
Comments: 3
Kudos: 38





	can i also fall off the face of the earth?

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: kirby is mentioned. i do not own kirby, i simply love and adore kirby with all my heart.

Thieving got a lot smoother after exams were over and summer break came around. Ryuji was excited to have a new party member, especially one that had extensive knowledge on the Metaverse, even though he still has a pretty hard time grasping it.

She was very timid, however. Ryuji didn’t really know how to handle timid.

Futaba Sakura, so far, was _only_ comfortable with Akira. When Futaba was to come over and spend “quality time” as he dubbed it with him, he unfortunately had to leave the shop. If this was earlier in the year, Ryuji would have paid no mind to it.

But Ryuji likes Akira. Like likes Akira. Which only made his feelings for simply leaving the shop, because he wants to make his newest teammate more comfortable, much more complicated.

Was it jealousy? Maybe. He didn’t know. Ryuji never had feelings for anyone before, nor has he ever desired a relationship until now. Since his realization, _everything_ has been shed in a new light. When he reads manga, he notices the chemistry between characters, and wonders how it would be if Akira and he were like them. 

It was really frustrating.

Today, however, was supposed to be Ann’s and Ryuji’s appointed Quality Time With Futaba Sakura, because if she were to steal all the time away from Akira, a. she would never learn how to communicate with her teammates, and b. Ryuji would never see Akira again.

“So, what should we exactly do with her..?” Ann looked up at Ryuji from her subway seat, as if he had the answer to their conundrum.

Which, he totally did not.

“Erm, I dunno…Maybe we could just wing it? See where the day takes us?” was Ryuji’s suggestion. Akira and Makoto already took her around Yongen Jaya, and they doubted she was really to face any real crowds, considering Ann’s idea of fun was shopping, and Ryuji’s idea of fun was going to the arcade.

“Honestly, I have no other options, so let’s go with that!” she said with a clap of her hands and a smile.

“ _Arriving at Yongen Jaya._ ”

Ryuji allowed Ann to get off first, because he always felt the need to watch her back, then caught up with her as they traversed the neighborhood, finding Sojiro’s home so they could pick up Futaba and set their basic plan into motion.

Once they put their brains together, they figured out the way (without Akira’s help, go them), and made it without any trouble.

Ann rang the doorbell. “Futaba!” she shouted. “We’re here!”

Instead of a verbal message back, their phones buzzed in their pocket. **It’s open** , the message read. They both side eyed each other as they infiltrated the Sojiro household.

Heh, infiltrated, like they’re essentially going to kidnap Futaba. If it comes to that.

“Futaba?” Ryuji called for her.

“In here!” her voice was coming from her room. Ann started walking towards it first and Ryuji followed suit.

Her room looked much different than it did before, thanks to Akira cleaning it out for her. When he walks on the floors now, he doesn’t feel crumbs and dust gathering at his feet like it did last time. Ryuji shudders at the memory. Even he keeps his room somewhat tidy every now and then.

Futaba wasn’t even looking at them when they entered the room, and Ryuji understood why. She was completely engrossed in an online battle of Gun About.

“Futaba,” Ann whined. “You knew we were going out today and you decided _now_ was the time to play video games?”

“Yep!” immediate response, no hesitation.

“Ugh, when you’re done we can go--wait, is that a GameCube?” Ann went over to admire the console. “I love this thing! I used to play it all the time when I was a kid, but I sold it. I completely regret that decision.”

“That old thing? Yeah, I don’t play it as much anymore but I figured I’d keep it and try to collect all the rare games I can find! I finally got my hands on Kirby Air Ride! Do you know how expensive that game’s gotten?”

“Wait, what?! How did you even manage to get it? You don’t even have a job!” Ryuji said.

“Mwehehe, I have my ways, thank you very much!” Futaba tapped her fingers along each other with a mischievous grin plastered on her face.

“I’ve actually never played that game but I’ve wanted to!”

“I have enough controllers for all of us!”

Ann and Ryuji looked at eachother, grins on their faces.

“Hell yeah! I’ll have you know I’m the reigning champion of any and every racing game,” Ann proudly declared, her chest puffed out and chin raised up.

“Only on 50cc though.” Ryuji retorted.

“Hey!”

==

The day turned out to be lazier than intended, but neither did Ryuji, nor Ann, nor Futaba minded.

At some point, junk food was incorporated into the mix. Ryuji, as it turns out, was pretty bad at racing games. Ann was actually the champion of each and every race, much to Futaba’s frustration, but they were making much better progress with her than they thought they would. They both high fived each other.

When playing video games became too repetitive, Ann suggested a movie to watch so they could use the rest of their time up doing something somewhat productive with her, even if it wasn’t outright interaction. Like a first date, Ryuji thought.

The movie was a romantic comedy, but Ryuji got bored of the jokes and the sap a quarter of the way into the movie and instead was cracking up at Futaba’s commentary, which Ann was trying very hard to concentrate on the movie but about halfway through even she couldn’t stop laughing at Futaba’s quips at the overused slapstick humor.

Ryuji could clearly see, from the bits and pieces that he does pay attention to, that the main character and the love interest were pining over each other so badly, it was just so _obvious_ , why couldn’t they just admit that they like each other? The obvious answer was plot reasons, but Ryuji was tired of all this mushy gushy stuff already and just wished they could kiss.

“Heh, just like Ryuji and Akira.”

Wait.

“WHAT?!”

Now both Futaba and Ann were staring right at him, and there was heat traveling to his face a million miles a second. Oh god. This was not happening. How did Futaba even come to that conclusion?

Then he recalled earlier how she managed to send messages through an anonymous alias weeks before she actually met them in person, and everything came to a head.

“You totally like him, right?” Futaba’s question was so simple, and sounded so innocent, save for the growing sly smile on her face. Ryuji wished he could just pop out of existence right then and there.

“U-uhm--No, no no I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ryuji cursed at himself for stammering.

“Huh, that’s a shame, because he really likes you.”

“How do you know?!”

“So you do like him!” Futaba exclaimed. “Mwehehehe, gotcha!”

Ryuji buried his face into his hands and let out the biggest groan he could muster. Not how today was supposed to go.

“Wait, you like Akira?!” Ann spoke up. “OH! My god. Ryuji!” Ryuji’s ears could almost burst with how squeaky her voice got on that last part. He didn’t bother to change positions as she trapped him into a hug and toppled them both onto the bed. “You two would be so cute together!”

“Ann, stop it,” the heat on his face traveled to the rest of his body at this point, he was starting to sweat. “I’m sweaty.”

“Ew, gross.”

She let go.

“You should totally tell him!”

“No!”

“Why?!”

“Because!” Ryuji then looked down at his hands, which were gripping his knees lightly. He kicked the floor. “I don’t want to ruin our friendship. Besides, Futaba may say he likes me back but dude, have you seen him? Akira’s got, like, ten girls on him daily.”

“Okay, first of all,” Ann pointed a perfectly manicured finger at him. “Yeah, he is pretty hot. You’re totally exaggerating though. Akira’s a total dork, and you know it. Second--I’m not done--even if he weren’t to return your feelings, which by the way, are totally obvious from a mile away, he’s a very understanding and respectful guy. He wouldn’t let that get in the way of your bromance. And third, like I said, and like Futaba said, he likes you. He may be good at hiding his feelings but he can’t hide the way he looks at you when you’re not looking.”

Ryuji was hesitant to reply back. How on earth do girls even manage to pull this off? His ma was always good at detecting the way he felt, never missing a beat. He chalks it down to witchcraft (and in Futaba’s case, a reason to get a new phone).

Futaba then spoke up. “You should honestly hear the conversations I have with Akira. He _loves_ talking about you. It gives me fuel for a doujin.”

“A what now?”

“Nothing.”

“Welp!” Ann got up off the bed. “I gotta get home soon, ready to make like a banana and split, Ryuji?”

“Ooo, that’s a good one.”

“I guess it is time to go.” Ryuji rose, and ran a hand through his hair. “You’re something else, you know that Futaba?”

“Silly me, I know!”

Ann and Ryuji slipped out of her room. “See ya Futaba! It was great spending time with you today!” And then they left.

They decided to slow their pace as the sun was starting to tint their surroundings in a vibrant orange. It was pretty to look at.

“Sooooo, are you ever going to tell him your feelings, Ryuji?” Ann brought up again. Ryuji wouldn’t have expected any different, though.

“Maybe? I’m not sure. He’s such a busy guy; when will I ever have the time?” It wasn’t like he didn’t think about it endlessly at night, going through scenario after scenario on how he would execute it. He even added flowers to the mix at one point, because even boys like flowers, right? Akira did work at a flower shop with pretty flowers. He wants to buy a bouquet for his ma.

“Well, I have no real advice to give you, since I’ve never really had to confess to anyone before.”

“Not even Shiho?”

“Nope! She confessed to me, actually. Even though I wanted to for the longest time. I never got around to it,” Ann’s eyes were downcast. “But if she hadn’t I would’ve confessed eventually.”

“Sure you would’ve.”

“Hey! I am capable!”

“Whatever.”

“Don’t ‘whatever’ me!” Ann spoke in a mocking tone at the pointed word. “And I don’t want to rush you, but he’s only here for a year tops. Hopefully he’ll love us enough to return, but I don’t want you to have any regrets, okay?”

She was right. He wasn’t going to be here for long, and however this year will go, with how strange and exciting it’s already been, he didn’t want to be spending the next year with any what-ifs.

“I gotcha.”

When they passed by Leblanc on the way to the subway station, Ryuji’s eyes automatically went to the window above Leblanc, where the attic was.

**Author's Note:**

> nice going, futaba. you made the boy flustered. this was a day late, which means the rest will be a day late, but i actually had a lot of fun writing this prompt out. originally this was they day them boys were going to confess to each other but clearly plans have changed. let me know what you think?


End file.
